The Last Record
by Chris000
Summary: Station Square is a bastion of Humanity that allowed our race to still remain strong even when it seemed that the end was nigh for them. However, what happened in the world of the Chaos Chronicles was far different. The people that called the mountain cavern home faced a different fate than those protected by the Hidden Cities.


The Last Record  
C.R.V.

Uh... I guess it's working. I'm not usually good at using these things, but... here goes I suppose.

Ahem, my name is Captain Irvin Langdon. I am... well, was, the pilot of Unified Air Flight 14J900 out of the American Union. I am... here with approximately over one hundred survivors of the crash that happened here. It happened so fast that... I think I'll try to explain.

It was about five days ago that it happened. I was in Denver when we started off. It was business as usual I guess. Me and... and... Marty were back from the Asiatic Republics. Spent four days in Beijing... and then here. It was about somewhere over Columbia I suppose when we picked up something on the radar. It was something big. I thought it was a mistake, so I told him to check it again. When it showed again as positive, we saw something flying through the sky. It was huge. It wasn't a flying saucer or anything like that but it was way above us. Then it... fired I guess. All of them did.

I was blinded; I couldn't see anything at first. It was like a nuke went off. Marty was looking right at it so he got the worst of the flash. My sight came back. His didn't.

I guess they were aliens, which is obvious when I think about it. When they shot whatever they shot, it sent a shockwave out. It leveled a city below us nearly instantly and it hit our flight. The pressure wave ripped our number three engine right off and damaged the number one.

We were still able to hold it though. We were somewhere over South America, Brazil maybe. We didn't have enough power to stay airborne and we had hull breaches caused by debris. We had to put down. So Marty and I made a decision, and we took us lower. Not like we could go to an airport anyway seeing as how they were all on fire.

We listened to the radio as we went. Other pilots were doing the same, but I can't say if they were successful or not. As soon as our plane hit the top of the trees, we knew we might die. The wings were ripped right off and we were flung into the ground. We were still going hundreds of miles an hour when it happened. I blacked out as soon as the nose hit the ground. Something flew around and smacked me in the face. I was out before I knew what happened.

When... when I woke up, I was... you know, kinda shocked that I was alive. The safety system activated around me, so all I could see at first was the inflatable bags that came from the chair. As soon as I got out, I had a look around, and... that's when I saw Marty. He was dead. He... I guess he died in the crash or not long after. There was a piece of metal coming from his chest. I guess he was hit with it as soon as we landed. His safety gear didn't activate.

I... I didn't know what to think... to say, you know! My copilot of ten years was dead! Dead right in front of me and I couldn't even take him out of the seat! I... I couldn't! I couldn't even look at him. I mean, Jesus! To see him sprawled in his seat like that!

So... so... I left him there. I got out and walked around. The floor was on an angle, and the windows were smashed. We must have punched into a cave or something, which should have smashed the nose. I guess we got lucky and wedged into an opening. It was cold too, so it must have been night time. I had to smash my way through what was left of the door. When I made it into the cabin, I was surrounded by people. Bloodied, frantic, but alive. They were in tears when they saw me. They were saying that they thought I was dead and they they were stranded. Men, women, and children. A lot of children. I saw these kids when I walked on board. I wondered where their parents were, but one look around the smashed passenger area said it all. Bodies lay everywhere, twisted by the crash. I looked at the passengers. There were maybe almost two hundred. The plane carried about seven hundred. We lost almost seventy five percent of the passengers in the crash, but with 200, we still managed to save some people. A good result... considering the circumstances.

The first thing I wanted to do was get us all off of that plane. I didn't want to be anywhere around it. We kicked out the emergency exit and exited in a large cave system. At least part of the plane was still in there. The tail must have been exposed.

"Everybody out!" I ordered. "I want ten people with me, between twenty and thirty five!"

I saw a few people, some barely more than kids come forward. They were strong looking, but were clearly afraid. I was myself, but I didn't have a choice. I needed to be strong. I was the leader after all. These people looked up to me.

I threw away my tattered jacket. It wouldn't do me any good here. I also threw my tie off as well and unbuttoned my collar. I needed to breathe. The air was hot and sticky, as was expected for South America. There were a few skylights in the sky which showed dark acrid clouds. A few thumps of thunder sounded in the distance. I hoped to God those things wouldn't be coming to find us.

"Come on." I ordered. "Follow me. We need to explore this cave."

They nodded and stayed behind me. I pulled out a flashlight that I picked up from the plane and began searching around. Most of the people with me had stuff like their cell phones to look around. Surprisingly these survived the landing just fine.

"You think there's going to be a rescue?" A young woman with red hair asked. "You think they're going to come looking for us?"

"I don't know." I answered back to her. "There were other planes that went down. Maybe there were survivors there as well."

This may have been false. I didn't want to give the possibility that, you know, we may have been the last people left alive on the planet. So we went deeper into the caves. After about an hour, we came to a large opening. I mean large. Massive. A gigantic empty cavern that seemed to stretch for miles. It very likely could have been. And above. Looking above, it was some sort of ancient extinct volcano. This had to be some old... lava chamber or something that must have emptied somehow.

"Wow." one of the kids said. "Look at this place."

"Yeah." I repeated. "It's really something."

It was warm, probably from updrafts that came from the earth below. There was also water as well. It seemed to come from some sort of spring I think. Clean drinking water... maybe not so clean given the madness outside. But was it so bad? Could the dirt soak in whatever was destroying people out there? We had to take a chance. I told the others that we would return and bring everyone back.

[CORRUPTION]

It's been about four years now since what I am now beginning to think was the extermination of the entire Human race. We've received no further radio contact from the outside world. We... had rigged up a makeshift transceiver from the plane... up until around seven hours ago when it finally gave out. That was the last of the energy we had in those capacitors. Now we're really on our own. Up until that point, we've heard nothing over the airwaves except for a few scattered signals. I want to believe that they're from surviving pockets of people, but for all I know, they're just automated signals that are just repeating an SOS message from the attacks until they run out of power. I can't get any definite voice signals either, so I can only go off of the slightly different pitches of radio noise. One of the guys here, Leonard believes that some of the sounds are in Morse Code, so they're alternating, but the patterns seem to be random, so if it is a code, somebody's just jamming on the button and it's not working.

The outside world seems like it's... dying or something like that. We sent a few people out into the jungle, but they haven't been coming back. They don't have weapons or anything like that, but it wasn't like we expected bandits or anything like that. They've been finding animals, but they're sick or something like that. They're wasting away. Some are dead. We've been catching some of the animals and roasting them for food mostly. Otherwise, we're growing stuff well enough.

I'm sure the government has a plan in place in case something like this happened. There had to be something that we did as a backup. Alien invasion? I don't think any of us could have guessed it was going to come, but there had to be a fallout bunker or something. I just... can't accept, not for a minute, that we're the only Humans left on the planet. I can't accept that. Not yet.

Our village is holding up. We took apart some of the plane a long time ago. What's left is basically a front door. We have two guys up there all the time. I am happy to say that we welcomed over twenty new souls in the past year. Twenty healthy beautiful children. I have to admit that I was a little bit worried about them since I don't know if we were dosed with anything when the attack happened. They seem fine though, but we have no real doctors. None with doctorates anyway. We have a real shot of maintaining a population here, but we need to make sure we have enough room to grow. I take a look around the cavern here and I think we can do it. We need resources and they're right outside this place. Wood, iron, all of it is something we can get.

But everyone's afraid to leave. Everyone's safe here. They only want to make small jaunts out into the jungle to get food. These people need to get off

[CORRUPTION]

Bountiful harvest this year; I think we're in our tenth year now? The fields are really taking well. There's enough sunlight coming through the roof of the mountain to let things grow! I have to admit I wasn't expecting it! Wild rice seems to be what we have a massive stockpile of. We actually have enough food to last a few seasons now! The stores are holding as much as they can.

I must be sixty five now, I think. I wish this had video; my beard is amazing. I look like Tom Hanks in that one movie. In my age, I can see beauty in the youth, you know. I can see the village from here – a combination of wood and stone taken from the land around us. I once said we were the last few Humans on Earth, but I think I was wrong. We're the fi

[CORRUPTION]  
I think I can get this working. Is it working? This light, this light is turning on...

My name is Taylor. My father was Orson, son of Irving. I am making this message in mourning, to commemorate the death of our leader and my father. I have never used this technology before. I learned how from some of the older people here. Our technology compared to the craft that brought my grandfather here seems... rather plain in comparison. Spears and Slings. Maybe a few rifles that are kept maintained.

I feel loss. My father died last night from something we couldn't identify. It was a sickness. Some people are saying that it's something called cancer, but I have no idea what that is. Some of them said that the body was growing in places when it shouldn't... but it made no sense. We're farmers, not doctors.

My father was buried next to my grandfather, Irving. They say he was something called a pilot. He flew the plane that rests in the side of the mountain. He flew. Like a bird. He probably didn't flap his wings, but the old-timers say that the planes glided through the sky with powered engines. Wouldn't that be something to see.

But there have been no planes. Almost a hundred years since our people came to this place, nobody has ever seen anything approaching what my grandfather flew. I guess that means that they just don't make them anymore, or that there's nobody left to fly them. I've heard stories that there were once things called cities. Large places where millions of people lived. I can't even imagine such a number. So many people as far as the eye can see and houses as tall as this mountain that people lived and worked in. And there were cities all over the world. And now there are none.

It makes me sad when I think of it. The world my grandfather had torn away from him haunts me in my sleep. He didn't know what happened or why it was taken away, but we have to live with it. I will never see the cities he saw. I will never see the curve of the world. I will never see the ocean he spoke of either. Anybody who leaves this place... either comes back afraid and scared, or doesn't come back at all.

I am a young man, but some day I will have children. I will tell them how we came to this place, and I feel as if every generation after will know less and less. The planes that once filled the sky every day in my grandfather's time will become legends to them. And then they will become unknowable to those after that. But there is hope. We must have conquered this world before. We can do it again. We are still the masters of our own destiny.

We will not

[CORRUPTION]

Thank you! Thank you! You got it to work! Thank you oh elder! Speaker of wisdom! Whisperer to the machines!

Oh this is glorious! There is little time! I speak out of haste! This is for the gods that listen to us! They must help! Our ancestors spoke to this in times of great need! The gods brought them rain and sun! I give reverence to the holy conduit to the gods! Hear my cries!

We die! An illness falls on us! Our people suffer! Our city burns with the dead stacked in the street to save the rest of us! Our skin melts and our bones crack! Our doctors know nothing of what happens to us and we are frightened! The invisible beast stalks our people! Oh gods! When I heard the tales of the Rajd-Yactif as a boy I thought it only a tale to frighten us! But the beasts have found us! We are dead in our beds in the morning light, untouched but sickened! My own mother convulsed for three days! They found her shaking and our doctors could do nothing for her! I don't want to lose her!

These beasts, o gods, if you hear us, they cannot be killed. They cannot be tracked, and we cannot stop them from sickening us with their painless bites! Even my dreams are not safe from them! With my eyes closed... I see them! I see them! Flashes of light hiding in the dark! Their true form not for my eyes!

But I see them! Oh gods! Oh gods! We're going to die in here without your protection! Please, send unto us your blessing and graces! It's all I ask! It's not safe out in the jungle! It isn't safe in the city! I beg you have mercy on our souls! Forgive the sins of our forefathers that doomed us to this place! Just let us live to see our children grow strong!

Please! I don't want to die!

[CORRUPTED]

[Linguistic analysis of untranslated verses recorded in what remains of the flight computer compared to initial recording indicate much time has passed. AI extrapolation of the local language suggests perhaps four thousand years have passed since the Xorda Bombing approximately 12,000 years Before Present. Analysis of skeletal remains supports this analysis.]

[Determination for extinction was believed to have been either through delayed reaction of genetic weaponry through generations, or perhaps deterioration of radioactive cores from abandoned nuclear plants believed to have been struck by tsunamis or earthquakes. Radiation clouds from such a breach may have been responsible for the deaths of almost one hundred thousand Human beings, effectively wiping out all Human life on Mobius prior to the Lost Million's arrival.]

Baulkner placed his laptop on what remained of a well. Even after eight thousand years of neglect, it still retained some form of its original intent. The stone tube stretched down into the darkness. Somewhere below, stagnant water would have at one time satisfied the thirst of these people. He glanced up at the ruined city around him. Baulkner took his sunglasses off and wiped the bridge of his nose. He had been sent here along with Scott to perhaps seek out new locations for UEG colony sites independent of the Kingdom. He wasn't expecting to find a necropolis.

"Did you hear all that?" Scott asked from the temple at the center of the town. "Think Tawney translated it all except for a few parts."

"Yeah, I did." Baulkner said. He folded up the computer and placed it back in his backpack. The city around him had an eerie fog that drifted through the streets. Skeletons lay around corners and draped on what could have been walls or tables. Not a sound came from anywhere around the city. Not the flow of water, not a wisp of the wind, nor a bird that was curious enough to fly down the open top of the extinct volcano. "Poor bastards." he said. "Done in by radioactivity. They didn't even know they had it."

"They didn't know they had anything outside of this city." Scott said. "I'm en route to you now. This place is freaking me out."

"Why, what's up there?" Baulkner asked jogging up an inclined road. The withered remains of what once had to be a cart was on his right. The wood had long ago rotted, yet the metal parts of the axle were still present along with other components that gave it away.

"Well the flight computer's here. The battery's still working too. Whatever they made this out of, it sure worked nicely. There's... plenty of bodies too. My guess is that people came here when they knew the... that the end was coming, you know."

"Like folks going to church. Armageddon."

"A great sickness is more accurate. So there are no more Humans left on Mobius."

"This cements it." Baulkner checked his map. The ping that was Scott was only a few intersections away. He moved quickly around the dead. His rifle was still held firmly in his hands. ONI had no idea this was waiting for them. They would still love the report on this place. More things for the scientists to dig into. "You think the Kingdom knew about this place?"

"What, are you kidding? Not a chance. These people were deathly afraid of their environment. They kept themselves well-hidden. Barring radiation shielding of course. Who would go spelunking for the hell of it anyway?"

Baulkner nodded silently. He passed a market with stalls made of stone. A few skeletons there, but these ones seemed killed not by sickness, but violence. Rusted metal knives poked from their backs. Baulkner stopped for a second.

The Agent stood frozen. He saw the death around him, but this was different. This was conscious murder in such a time of crisis. It was something that he was disgusted at. He gave a quick sign of the cross and then bade the dead goodbye. They didn't deserve to go out the way they did.

None of these people did.

Baulkner found Scott standing by a monument. It was a pedestal that had a piece of metal on it. It wasn't just any metal, but one with serial numbers and part of a star on it.

"From the plane." Scott said. "Probably from one of the wings."

Baulkner walked up to his partner and took a look at it. "These people must have thought it was from their gods."

"Or it was part of their chariot." the other agent said. "That plane was their only connection of the world they lost. It must have been special to them. To fly like the birds."

"Makes me appreciate Earth a little more." Baulkner said. "Dude, let's get out of here. Seriously, I don't want to be around here anymore."

"Radiation levels have been normal for at least three thousand years."

"You know what I mean." the agent said.

"The dead can't hurt you, man." Scott said. "They're just part of a past that wasn't ours." He nodded. "But we are losing daylight. I don't want to spend the night in here again."

"You get nightmares too?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

The pair made the way back to where they came. The tunnel leading to the wrecked plane was well fortified. It was like a gate into hell that the citizens were staffing day and night. Afraid of what was outside, only to have it come to their own doorsteps.

"I'll signal for evac once we hit the first clearing." Scott said. "Hey, you OK?"

Baulkner looked out at the city. It was somewhat below him from here. It was a collection of mud, stone, and wood, but the last Humans on the planet lived, and then died here.

"You ever wonder what they called it?"

"Sorry?" Scott asked.

"The city. Ever wondered about the name?"

"Uh... I don't know."

"I mean, I grew up in Detroit. It's supposed to be a name about the river. It tells you where you came from."

"Well, what would you call it then?"

Baulkner looked over the ruins. "The only thing that makes sense: Home."


End file.
